Hopkins researchers led by sociologist James McPartland
have come up with a model for turning around the most
troubled urban high schools. In places from Philadelphia to
Hawaii, the Talent Development program is getting
results.

Located in a deteriorating area of Philadelphia, Germantown
High School once fit the stereotype of the dangerous urban
high school -- out of control. The grand columned central
building, built in 1915, was gray and dirty. More than a
few of the 1,300-plus students passing through a metal
detector in the entrance doorway were detained for drugs or
weapons. During class time, more students loitered in the
halls than in classrooms. Ninth-graders, who had failed
classes as many as four times, created disturbances for
those few who wanted to learn.

But perhaps most problematic, in this era of educational
reform, when state assessments can determine the fate of
principals and treatment from the district administration,
more students were failing than passing. The school
couldn't hold onto a principal to try to effect some change
-- until Gloria Pelzer arrived in the fall of 2001. Pelzer
was familiar with the problems of troubled urban high
schools, having previously served as a "facilitator" or
teacher coach at one of the city's toughest high
schools.

Pelzer knew that if she were to survive, and her students
were to prosper, she needed a major, comprehensive plan.
There were a number of high school reform packages out
there to choose from, and she took a close look at many of
them. "Some might solve the instructional problem, but what
about my discipline problem? There might be a new structure
for the school, but how would that help my ninth-graders
who seemed most in danger of failing?" Pelzer asked at the
end of a recent school day. Dressed for action in a black
business suit and silver tennis shoes, she is petite,
exuding energy and determination.

Talent
Development High Schools, a model under development
over the last decade by Johns Hopkins'
Center for Social
Organization of Schools, emerged as her first choice. A
comprehensive whole school reform, it addresses problems
ranging from large class sizes to ninth-grade reading lists
and the need for study skills. And it provides on-site
support in the form of coaches as well as curriculum. By
spring 2001, with assurance from Pelzer that she would
commit to leading the school for more than the usual
one-year term of her predecessors, 80 percent of the
teachers at Germantown agreed to sign on.

The model is largely the brainchild of Johns Hopkins
sociologist James
McPartland, PhD '68, an unassuming man with a long-standing
dedication to making public schools more responsive to
disadvantaged minorities. He has been tackling the problem
of inequity in education since he was a graduate student of
famed Hopkins sociologist James Coleman during the 1960s.
McPartland worked on the 1966 "Equality of Educational
Opportunity" report. Known as the Coleman Report, it was
commissioned by the U.S. Office of Education and surveyed
600,000 schoolchildren and teachers nationwide. It is
considered to be one of the most important research studies
of the 20th century in showing the unequal educational
opportunities offered in impoverished, mostly
African-American, neighborhoods.

In his research, McPartland scoured the literature, seeking
to identify elements of a model urban high school and to
understand why students drop out. He believed that school
systems should provide the step-up students in impoverished
areas need to succeed. In 1994, he started a team at
Hopkins to invent new forms and practices for troubled high
schools. He recruited talented teachers from public
schools, as well as social scientists with imagination and
skills who could apply theory to practice in real schools.
The first phase of the project, which focused on school
organization, was launched at Patterson High School in
Baltimore in 1994. As other schools followed, instructional
pieces were added. The Talent Development High School model
is now in place in more than 50 high schools across the
nation, from Hawaii to Louisiana. CSOS employs 25 people --
such as curriculum writers -- at Hopkins in Baltimore and
about 75 in the field as coaches and coordinators.

Elements of Talent Development are now widely used in high
school reform nationwide, says Bob Embry, president of the
Abell Foundation, a major funder of education reform in
Baltimore. Embry notes that high school reform has received
short shrift, as the focus has been on early education.
Even now, against the backdrop of the No Child Left Behind
Act initiated by President George W. Bush, he says, high
school reform is "most difficult and has gained least
support" compared to the reforms sweeping through
elementary and middle schools.

Says McPartland, "Often the [approaches] are to invest all
your resources in the early years so you can prevent
failure. Schools are going to continue to need help even if
they have a good early program. Even though the average
[disadvantaged minority student] is three or four years
behind coming in, we think we can accelerate these
students' growth so that they can gain two years for every
year they are there. We are convinced that it's not too
late in high school to catch up."

The first component of the Talent Development model (and
one that many schools start by taking alone, before
implementing the rest of the package) is to break the
school up into an "academy" structure, with a ninth grade
"Success Academy" kept separate from upper classes -- an
opportunity to build cohesion and establish more
personalized relationships between students and their
teachers and administrators. The goal: Making sure students
don't get lost in the crowd. "The ninth grade is key,"
notes McPartland. A recent study by CSOS researchers Robert
Balfanz and Nettie Letgers revealed that ninth- graders in
non-selective, large urban high schools like Germantown
have as great a chance of eventually dropping out as they
do of graduating -- 50/50 odds. "Most kids come to high
school poorly prepared," says McPartland. "Many may be
reading and doing math four years behind grade level."

In Talent Development's ninth grade, schools implement a
block schedule aimed at quickly closing their skills gaps.
Rather than following a standard seven-period day of
45-minute classes, students spend 90 minutes in each class.
In the first semester, most students (except the few at
grade level) take a "double dose" (90 minutes each) of math
and English to focus on remedial work, in addition to
Freshman Seminar, which teaches basic organizational and
study skills, and an elective. During the second semester,
they pick up the standard ninth-grade English and algebra
classes. The longer classes give teachers time to delve
into subjects in more depth, explains McPartland, and to
implement a greater variety of learning techniques -- such
as "cooperative learning," in which students divide into
small groups to study or solve problems together -- to
better engage their students.

Once they advance to the upper grades, students can choose
from one of several "career academies" -- "learning
communities with a career focus that enroll 250-350
students," McPartland explains. All students receive
college preparatory training and work-based learning
experiences. "The idea is to give kids some meaning and
direction for their career goals," he says.

A critical piece of the reform is teacher support. "You
can't just wish teachers to teach without building support
systems," McPartland emphasizes. Class coaches, trained at
CSOS and assigned to be on site at each school, "help
teachers in all aspects" -- everything from teaching a
model class to fetching a light bulb for a malfunctioning
projector, he adds. Unlike the "master teachers" found in
many public schools, these coaches are meant to be teacher
allies, pure and simple. They don't formally evaluate
teachers or report on their progress or problems to
administrators. That's something that Germantown English
teacher Erika Palmer says she appreciates, adding, "My
coach tells me what to improve and what is working."

The fully implemented program costs each school about
$250,000 a year (breaking down to $300 per student), which
covers a team of on-site coaches, materials, and assistance
from CSOS. Most schools defray these costs using grants and
federal money that has been designated for "low-performing
schools" through the U.S. Department of Education.

McPartland contends that Talent Development prepares
students for success, rather than recycling the failure
that has been following them through middle school. "Often,
school [systems] don't realize how far behind their
districts are. They say, 'Well, we want to give them high
standards right off the bat.'" Says McPartland, "We want to
give them the high standards too, but we are going to be
successful at it."

Gloria Pelzer, principal of Philadelphia's Germantown
High, says she's seen a "drastic" postive change in school
climate since implementing the Talent Development
model.

Principal Gloria Pelzer had embraced Talent Development as
a solution to Germantown's complex problems, and was
prepared to implement it in spring 2002. Pelzer recalls
that some teachers were apprehensive about moving out of
their rooms to accommodate the ninth-grade "Success
Academy" because it had to be physically separate from the
upper classes. Some also worried about switching from the
short 50-minute "talk and chalk" lecture mode, as Pelzer
puts it, to 90-minute periods. Nevertheless, they worked
together on committees to develop topics of three academies
for upperclassmen: Communication, Arts, and Technology;
Business, Health, and Sports; and Law and Aviation.

Now completing the second year of the program, the school
greets visitors with a green sign over the entrance that
proclaims Germantown as a Talent Development High School:
"Success Unfolding."

"You learn more," says ninth-grader Andre Fisher, of his
block schedule. Last fall, he and his classmates played
catch-up to bring their skills up to grade level. He took
Strategic Reading, Transition to Advanced Mathematics, and
Freshman Seminar. All three courses had been developed by
curriculum specialists at CSOS. Now, during the second
semester of his freshman year, Andre is taking the standard
math class that used to frustrate most Germantown
ninth-graders -- and he is gliding through.

He arrives at class with his 30-member "team" of
classmates, which will stick together all day and attend
the same classes. There is an easy camaraderie among them.
Pelzer believes that the team approach helps to build
confidence among students and improve that intangible,
all-important school climate. But Andre isn't so sure. He
says he would like to mix with upperclassmen and others:
"They got us locked up here. I see the same people I went
to middle school with."

Math teacher Lorenzo Hayward, irrepressibly sunny, greets
the class wearing a purple polo shirt marked with the
Talent Development logo in white. The lone sign above the
blackboard reads: "Today is a Great Day to Learn Something
New." He keeps an eye on everyone, gently urging them on to
the task at hand, a preview test of the Terra Nova,
Pennsylvania's state assessment to be given in two weeks.
"You get one minute to get your name on paper -- starting
now!" he tells the class.

Sometimes, maintaining a positive attitude in the face of
students with limited skills is difficult, Hayward admits,
noting that his students showed major skill gaps during the
first semester. One student, for example, did not
understand the concept of borrowing. When he explained this
essential skill and she finally was able to grasp it, she
cried out of relief, Hayward says. He and other teachers at
Germantown say that success usually comes in small doses --
a letter grade gain here, a new word learned there. One
teacher related the progress of one student this way: "He
doesn't get the highest grades, but his attendance is
fantastic. He only earned a C this term, but that's better
than the D first semester. Now he's trying even harder."

When teachers need help, they come to the Talent
Development room on the first floor, where the school's
three CSOS-trained curriculum coaches gather when they are
not giving model classes or working with teachers. These
coaches are in constant contact with CSOS curriculum
writers -- expert teachers, recruited from the ranks of
urban schools, who are continually refining their courses
based on input from the field.

Alta Shaw is one such curriculum writer, who creates the
text and context for "Strategic Reading," the course that
aims to bring students up to grade level in reading.
Burrowed in her office just across from Hopkins' Homewood
campus, she is passionate about coming up with reading
assignments that will capture the imaginations of students
who have fallen through the cracks.

One challenge is finding reading material that appeals to
ninth-grade interests but is written at the average reading
grade level of the students, fifth grade. Chicken Soup
for the Teenaged Soul is the hands-down favorite, while
classics on many ninth-grade reading lists (such as Richard
Wright's Native Son) are too advanced to be
included. Shaw has found one of the most popular required
reading books to be One More River to Cross, an
anthology of biographies of African-Americans -- including
former congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, Malcolm X, and
astronaut Ron McNair -- that is written at the fourth-grade
level. Teachers have told her that outside of Florida, many
students haven't heard of McNair. So Shaw is adding details
for discussion in a revised edition of the curriculum,
which she's currently working on. She flips through a
notebook tagged with pink Post-it notes -- reflecting
comments and feedback from teachers and students -- to show
the changes being incorporated. "I am really giving the
teacher more context," Shaw says. "It makes it easier to be
creative and teach."

Moving from traditional high school lecturing in front of a
class for 45 minutes to a longer, more interactive teaching
style can be a difficult transition for many teachers, Shaw
has found. She and her colleagues have prescribed the order
of lessons for Strategic Reading and broken activities
down, beginning with 20 minutes of "reading showcase" where
the teacher reads aloud. Then comes 20 minutes of a focus
lesson, which is the more traditional teacher-delivered
lesson; 30 minutes of student team literature, where
students work in teams of three or four to discuss the
books; and 20 minutes of self-selected reading.

"The biggest problem [in most classrooms] is too much
lecturing," says CSOS English language arts coach Doug
Elmer, who has been assigned to Germantown High. "Research
shows that the attention span [of students] is 20 minutes."
On this afternoon in April, Elmer has been called upon by
teacher Susan McCann to conduct a model class on "Romeo and
Juliet" for her ninth-graders, using a student team
approach. The students break down into groups of four.
Elmer has carefully placed at least one higher-achieving
student in each group. Once the teams are seated together
in different parts of the room, he builds up to the game
"Shakespeare Jeopardy." "Quotable Quotes for $100!" he
calls out, as hands fly up in a rush to answer. At times
during the contest, students are yelling, on their feet,
excited to answer. They show command of the text and
characters and enthusiasm for the game but appear to be
nearly out of control. At first, McCann sits quietly on the
sidelines, occasionally reprimanding students for talking
too loudly or out of turn. But as the game gains momentum,
she offers encouragement, and helps Elmer select students
to call upon for answers.

"It can look chaotic," says Elmer, after class. "But teams
help the average student who may not come to the fore
during a traditional class to participate. I've seen huge
leaps in core skills. We've gained momentum as the year has
gone by."

Discipline problems still surface as a major obstacle to
achievement at Germantown High. At the end of class, a
student makes an insensitive comment to a classmate who has
arrived late. The tardy student erupts in a spate of
cursing. Elmer promptly escorts her out of the room and
addresses her in the hallway. The student, having already
been disciplined that morning for another rule violation,
tells Elmer that she was in a bad mood, and teasing from
her classmate further aggravated her. Elmer has her stay
after class for five minutes; she calms down a bit and
leaves saying that she will try to participate in the class
next time.

"I've learned to never get in a power struggle with a
student in front of the class because you never win," Elmer
says. He notes that students growing up in high-poverty
neighborhoods such as the one surrounding Germantown must
deal with a range of seemingly intractable problems,
including drugs, broken homes, and incarcerated parents.
Inevitably these problems can play out in the classroom.

Students with the most severe behavioral and/or academic
problems are referred to "Twilight School," which runs
three hours after regular school hours. It offers intensive
doses of remedial work, along with discipline and
counseling -- what Pelzer describes as "nagging and
nurturing." The goal is to keep these most at-risk kids
from dropping out. Ninth-graders who fail the first
semester receive more individualized instruction. They may
attend school on Saturdays or after hours to make up
credits. Before repeaters were given additional direction
and support, says Pelzer, some had failed ninth grade as
many as four times. Many of these students were severely
disruptive in class, making it difficult for teachers to
reach students who really did want to learn. Now, says
Pelzer, the students who are removed from class have an
increased motivation to work hard in order to get back to
regular school, and teachers have an easier time
maintaining order.

James McPartland with students from Baltimore's
Patterson High, the first school to implement portions of
the Talent Development model, in 1994.

There are early signs that these methods have been
effective, at Germantown and elsewhere. Among ninth-graders
at Germantown, pass rates for English have improved from
47.2 percent before Talent Development to 72.2 percent as
of February 2003; for math, pass rates have increased from
43.4 percent to 56.4 percent; and in social studies from
43.3 to 58.6 percent, according to figures from the
Philadelphia Education Fund, a nonprofit education group
that is closely tracking progress at the five high schools
using the model in Philadelphia. Among these schools, one
out of three ninth-graders showed two years of gains.
Officials at the fund emphasize that students are passing
more courses due to improved instruction, not to watered
down requirements.

And a recent independent evaluation by the Manpower
Demonstration Research Corporation cited "a consistent
pattern of improvements in math and English course
completions and promotion rates" in the first three schools
that began working with Talent Development.

Results like these are not lost on Philadelphia school
officials, who are currently working with the Philadelphia
Education Fund and CSOS to add two more ninth grade
academies to city high schools. The city's chief academic
officer has selected two key ideas of Talent Development --
curriculum coaches and ninth-grade academies -- to be
incorporated into the city's high school reform efforts for
next year, across the district.

"Talent Development is really significantly changing the
opportunity to learn for these students, particularly
ninth-graders," notes Rochelle Nichols Solomon, past senior
program director at the Philadelphia Education Fund.
Solomon, active nationally in high school reform movements,
was recently hired to direct technical assistance for the
Carnegie Foundation's Academy for Educational Development.
As significantly, she says, "it's providing support for
teachers. We talked to faculty at these schools and they
feel the environment is under control."

For Pelzer, even as Germantown casts aside its negative
image, the job of principal remains more demanding than
ever. In a typical 12-hour day she deals with a range of
challenges, from figuring out strategies to increase scores
on the state's new testing program to disciplining a couple
caught kissing in a school closet. But she is encouraged by
what she sees as a "drastic" positive change in school
climate, compared to the first day that she arrived. The
teacher retention problem that has plagued other urban high
schools doesn't seem to be appearing this year at
Germantown, she says.

"Last year, teachers had a lot of complaints about the
ninth grade. This year they are not complaining. They're
satisfied. They feel the kids are cooperating and learning.
In all areas, we are seeing improvement."

Lavinia Edmunds, who is based in Baltimore, writes
frequently on issues pertaining to education.